Frederick Smith
New Member
A few of us who hold the Air Medal have formed the Air Medal Society , dedeicated to improving the recognition of the medal and those airmen who hold it. More information available at the web site.
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Air Medal Society is formed
- Thread starter Frederick Smith
- Start date
As long as it continues to be handed out like candy, it will not get any recognition.
Brett
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
Candy? My personal opinion: Strike/Flight - yes, individual action - not so much.
Still, it's too easy to get 'em. I got mine for basically engaging autopilot and not running myself out of gas. I was literally mask-off, eating marshmallow Peeps while earning Air Medal points. Contrast that with our squadron history which chronicled young Ltjg's earning their 11th Air Medal because they were dropping bombs and getting shot at daily.
I wear mine with pride, but I know it pales in comparison to how others earned it.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
It takes a lot more for a helo guy to get anything other than Strike/Flight. My Strike/Flight air medals were very similar to what you described (minus the auto pilot and "mask"), not crashing while flying 6.5 - 8 hours a night, taking off and landing a bunch of times. Yawn.
My two individual action ones are a whole 'nother story. First was flying off the big deck amphib in the Med, over Turkey into Northern Iraq in LLL during the opening days of the war. We launched with only one crewman in back, full bags, plus a full aux tank and only one gun with 200 rds. Everything else (our other crewmen, our deuce gear, our other gun, more rounds) was in the 53's, along with the full TBFDS tanks to refuel us in Northern Iraq (Turkey had overflight rights only) if need be. We flew 465 nm without stopping, and landed just under NATOPS mins and had to shut down engines while waiting for the fuel pits. Pucker factor was high.
Second one was the night before the Iraqi elections, essentially ordered to find a way to fly without violating the rules (we weren't allowed to fly Special VFR at night), so we could transport the election workers and ballots all over Iraq. Weather was dog shit at best, MAYBE 500/1/2... Came up with a "Tower-to-Tower" clearance that the TACC bought off on, but no one told tower. We launched anyway, knowing that TQ was reporting 1000/3. Flew single ship (to minimize midair potential), fighting vertigo the whole time to get to TQ only to find out that it was 500/1/2 as well. Spent the next 8 hours (7.8 on LLL goggles) flying election workers and ballots between Fallujah, Ramadi, and TQ, swapping the controls about every 15-20 minutes because we were getting either the leans or vertigo. Normally, we would have called it a night earlier, but the Wing CG made it very clear that the mission WOULD be accomplished. Second worst night of my life.
Got individual action air medals for both, and I'm very proud of both. My six Strike/Flight? I really could care less about those - candy...
If you are looking to improve the recognition (and respect), you would do well to have a respectable website. What you have up right now doesn't cut it.
MasterBates
Well-Known Member
Ditto for Helo bubbas..
I don't think he'll be reading your post...he's a first and only time poster selling his web site.
I kind of figured.
Well, if they were E-2 NFOs then I agree with you, but there has been many a double-anchor guy who has basically saved his pilot's life and others around him. Heck, there are NFOs who have directly saved Marines on the ground, so I wouldn't use that as the reason to write off the Air Medal vending machine.
I do, however, enjoy the war stories.
Imagine our surprise when we got home from Iraq and our DASC(A) guys were walking around with 7s and 9s on their Air Medals. They come awefully cheap for having such a history and such high precedence. All for sitting in a box, eating cheesy poofs, and not getting in fights with the C-130 crews that were pissed off because they had to fly DASC(A)'s.
phrogpilot73
Well-Known Member
I wish the helo guys had a separate air medal that distinguishes it from that. That honest-to-god makes me sick. Homos
